It's All in the Presentation
by Loonynamelass
Summary: A lot of concepts come to mind with the holidays, but most prominent and vital are these: love, giving, and renewal. Written as a present to a friend, this one-shot embodies all three for Draco Malfoy. Humor, romance, the works!


_**Disclaimer**__: All of the characters are based on people from real life and people from __Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone__ and its assorted sequels. Due to not actually having met several of these included characters, their personas may not be entirely accurate. Names have been changed for privacy, with Cassie referring to Casunny123, Ellen referring to ScOrPiA pOiSoN, and Savannah referring to Loonynamelass, the author of this gift. Also, the date-in-a-year-deal is completely true and in effect now._

_ALSO, this is the first time I've ever done a fic as a present (a Christmas one, to be exact)._

_So Casunny123, this is basically set in real-time except that we're all in our twenties so that the romance is not pedophilery from any side. A few of your buds are hanging out with you, just the two I know most and two of your faraway friends that I've heard about from you. And all of us are vacationing in Europe, or perhaps touring it. Well, enjoy! __**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**_

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* * *

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Draco perked up at the gaggle of girls entering the bar. Not for any source of cheer, no, only an instinct bred from war. One exceptionally daffy one was at the group's head, but not by any choice of hers if looks can be trusted; by the unheeded protests and hysterical laughter, it seemed her friends coerced her into entering through a combination of dragging, pushing, and _oh that awful inescapable force of darkness_ tickling. Clearly, they were either A) Muggles, B) Hufflepuffs, or C) tourists, and Draco had no interest in any of them. So, with only the slightest hesitation brought on by monotony, he returned to his solitary confinement at the far end of the bar with his dirty glass. He should have known better than to choose a place in a crossbreed town, where bloodlines ran amok as the alcohol did.

* * *

"Come on, Cassie, he totally looked at you and looked away! This could be a sign!" Jessica gave her a little shove, which Asia approved of.

Cassie was grinning from ear to ear, but from observation this seemed more her default expression than an expression of pleasure with the situation. "Guys, stop it! I'm a grown woman, perfectly capable of choosing my own dates. Just grab your drinks and let's get out of here."

"That's never dissuaded us before!" Jessica sang. "And we're _dead_ serious about getting you a boy-oy-oy before the end of this year."

Her friend could only slump to the table as many of the more drunk denizens had already resorted to.

The rest of the group dispelled their other conversations to get in on the game. "Aw, look. He's even kind of cute, in a bloodshot sorta way. Like a drunker, messier Draco Malfoy," Savannah prodded the apparently comatose center of conversation.

"Of course _you_ would relate it to HP!" Ellen laughed.

Cassie was not one to ever stay still, even in the pursuit of obstinacy. She popped up with the wisdom, "Well, as I haven't _read_ Harry Potter the significance of your remark is slightly lost," prompting several dark mutterings from Savannah to her glass of water.

"Well, joinin' in on the ogling, I'd say he looks like Carlisle," Asia offered. "That an analogy you recognize?"

"You know, if you want us to stop pestering you, you have to talk to a guy _some_ time," Savannah advised under the guise of being actually helpful. "If he tries to rape you, you know we'll whip out the belts and nun chucks."

"And Sensors, blades, guns (lots of guns!), Eldunari…"

Ellen proceeded to rattle off amusing literary/otherwise references until Cassie succumbed to the well-intentioned pressure and sighed. Her eyes rolling and her smile shrinking slightly to indicate exasperation, she said, "FINE. But you guys can't say ANYTHING about it for the rest of the year."

"The hour!"

"Life, and that's done." She took a definitive swig of whatever the bartender had offered her and strode off, the smile finally fading.

* * *

Draco lifted his head to the sound of footsteps, distinctly approaching his direction. With excellent peripheral vision (and perhaps help from a Supersensory Charm), he noted that it was the harassed muggle who had only just entered the bar. _How'd she get drunk enough to decide to approach me?_ _Must have a feeble tolerance, if she can overcome his Muggle Repelling Charm, _he concluded derisively.

"Excuse moi?" she mumbled as soon as she was close enough to not be ignored. "May I sit here?"

"That was a pathetic attempt at French," he snarked, not deigning to look at her. _Let's play a game: Make the muggle go away!_

"I thought alcohol was supposed to lower your inhibitions."

He couldn't see her but already knew she was obstinate, ostentatious, and generally vulgar by that sickeningly cheerful tone. Maybe she was still good at taking orders though. It was doubtful, as she couldn't even read his body language. "Leave me alone," he growled, spinning around to give the instruction a complimentary Malfoy glare. Instead it flopped into a blank stare as he absorbed a none-too-revealing tank top and short jean shorts on a petite woman who seemed all eyes- wide eyes, obscured only slightly by spectacles.

She only squeaked in response, uneasy in the presence of the attractive opposite sex by principle and doubly tense by his inexplicable aversion.

"You look like a Ravenclaw," he said without thinking. Da*n drinks, they tended to summon such occurrences. "Of course, if you actually were, you'd be smart enough to stay away." _Those eyes make her look like the Quibbler's Loony daughter. But she's better groomed and too young to be…_

"Um… What?" Twenty meters away, or effectually five trillion light-years, Savannah's head exploded. Cassie didn't notice, occupying her mind with the mantra: _I want to leave; he wants me to leave; this should be a sufficient reason to leave; why won't I leave?_

Meanwhile, Draco's drunken depths were rambling: _Ravenclaw is also a place for the curious, and her being a witch _would_ explain the Repellant charm's failure. And yet she was wearing muggle clothes and appearing extremely dim about Hogwarts. Or perhaps it's just my good looks._ "Why are you still here?" he drawled, recalling his original purpose.

Trying to act as normal as she possibly could manage, which left her fluorescently hyper, she explained, "My crazy friends are forcing me to talk to guys because they've made this stupid deal to get me a date by the end of the school year. And they're particularly insistent on today, because, well, it's New Year's Eve and there's the whole midnight kiss stuff…" She spluttered to a stop, burning bright red and deciding she'd outstayed her welcome. "Okay, well, uh, nice talking to you, well, not really nice, bye." She hopped off of the stool and started to meander back, but his cold hand caught her wrist. "You wanted me to leave, right?" she said uncertainly, staring at the long fingers.

"Sorry," he said, taking back his hand and wiping the muggleness off on his dainty napkin. "I just had to know- are all muggles so utterly devoid of determination?"

"Wow, I look like a mugger?" Cassie laughed, glancing down at her nondescript apparel. "Is that a stereotype for all Americans or something?"

"How is that at all pertinent?"

"Why are you answering questions with questions?"

"Why are you hypocritical?"

Cassie was enjoying herself, and at least this mean-spirited boy's sense of humor. After all, she wouldn't give him the benefit of _her_ disdain. "Why do you hate the world?"

Well, _that_ was a question! "How can anyone respond to _that_?"

"Maybe by not talking about talking and actually talking?" She leaned forward and could smell the alcohol on his breath. It wasn't as _ew_ as she thought it would be, though.

Draco sighed to himself. He was lonely and foolish and utterly inebriated. Clearly, the drink had a mind of its own if it was going to force him to sit here and talk to a muggle. Well, a rather un-unattractive muggle, admittedly. The drink told him to start talking- why was the drink so demanding? It was like Felix Felicis or something… "You said something about a kissing tradition…"

"Yeah… uh, does England not do that?" She'd heard of the stiff-upper-lipped English stereotype, but she was nothing for stereotypes.

"I don't know; I'm drunk." He flailed aimlessly to add validity to his outlandish claim. After all, with the Malfoys on such a slippery slope after the war already, he'd rather not further endanger their chances with a severe Statute of Secrecy breach. Firewhiskey was no excuse to Wizengamot, unfortunately.

"You're a very suspicious character."

"So I've been told." Actually, no one had ever dared tell him that to his _face_, but he certainly deserves the label in the eyes of most of his kind.

She smiled, an insanely happy smile even when her teeth didn't show. "At least you know you're interesting. Weird is just my style."

"Seeing as you're still here, yes, I'd say it was."

"I almost did leave."

"I'm glad you didn't." Wait, what? When did he actually start _enjoying_ this conversation? And dammit, why was his glass empty again? He pointed his wand and it rapidly refilled with a well practiced nonverbal incantation.

"Aw, that's the first nice thing you've said to me all evening!"

She was _coo_ing at him. He was positive that muggles weren't all this unorthodox- most of them weren't remotely interesting. That's what made knowing his father killed them so da*n easy. "You're dangerous," said he, the _for me_ unsaid.

This time, her teeth showed. "And don't I know it!"

* * *

There had always been walls- walls that were barriers from happiness and true companionship.

Walls are expectations. He had to be mean, poised, impeccable, servantile, masterful, prejudicial, higher, lower… It made him impossible to relate to other human beings, or even to himself.

_I'm gonna break down these walls I built around myself…_ Alexander Gaskarth sang, relayed to Ellen by Savannah's decades-old iPod. The song kept skipping, though. "Hm, I haven't charged it in forever. Maybe it's sputtering 'til it dies…" the owner, head having regenerated, suggested doubtfully, and offered instead "Well, I know all the words to _Stella_, at least." Ellen returned the ear phones and, cradling the loyal machinery to sleep, was a bit too gracious, or doozy, to decline.

* * *

The conversation had gone round and round and round through witticism and confusion and shrug, like _that 70's show_'s high scenes. Cassie enjoyed herself immensely, as was her wont when not nervous or frightened. And Draco enjoyed himself, too, under the influence of her infectious company. The four friends sitting at their table missed Cassie's presence, but their amusement at their success easily outbalanced any of that.

Tomorrow, he thought, this would have earth-shattering impacts on his ideology. Tomorrow, resolved he, the train would slow down.

Today was December 31st, and the year was minutes from ending, from never returning again.

He interrupted her pleasant tangent to say, "Wait- you came here because your friends are set on thrusting you into some romantic pursuit as soon as possible?"

Her cheerful exasperation returned. "Ugh, yeah…"

"And the solution was engaging me, a potential romantic interest, enough to satisfy the requirements of a midnight-new-year kissing ritual?"

The smile, which had so well indicated her comfort, slipped away: "Um."

"So that you would never again be pressured into consorting with those darker denizens of the world known as men?" Cassie nodded emphatically, and once again Draco noticed her similarity to the Quibbler kid, and their acceptance of uncomfortable truths.

"But I'm sure they're satisfied by now, as the deal was just a conver-"

She was silent for several moments, as was he, as was the gaggle of girls whose sixth sense told them that the clock was striking midnight and a truly new year was here.

_Ha! Hope you caught that, Rita. _Now_ try and call the Malfoys out on their insubordination against the Ministry of Magic's policy of amiability toward muggles. Go tell us to be friendlier and more "with the times."_ He drew away, noted her impossibly widened eyes, took her hands and said, "Thank you. This has wrought extraordinary changes in my life."

She recovered at the sound of sarcasm and managed to smirk: "All in a day's work!" He watched her skip back to her shell-shocked friends, watched her exclaim "I kissed the Carlisle!" watched them collect their belongings and pay their tiny tab, watched them prance out of the bar without a care in the world but whether their sheets would be soft for their companions' weary heads, and he thought: _For her, it probably is._

~?-_Fin_-?~

* * *

_A/N: OMG I finished this just now and it's 11:58 PM ovah heah, December 24, 2010. Meaning that it's not just in time for Christmas- it's _exactly_ in time for Christmas. Which strikes me as rather surprising, considering that I even made allowances for my inevitable lateness by centering the bustle around New Year's instead._

_Of course, this A/N has prolonged that, and now it's 12:01. :P (**Note added 12/31/2010: **And it's open to the public a week later.)  
_

_Random things to remind: 1) All the characters are real or they are Draco Malfoy (or they're BOTH!). 2) The deal was _NOT_ a cheesy plot device; it's true to the extent of my knowledge. 3) This is a present to my very good friend Casunny123 to whom I was unable to send a tangible gift as the postage would have been pretty lethal._

_Hope y'all enjoyed yourselves, and __**especially**__ Cassie! And review 'cuz they're neat._


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